Caesar turned and saw one of the bodyguards from earlier approach. A scornful grin revealed the man’s cruel disposition. He backed up a little and gripped his spear, unsettled. But on the inside, he was rapidly thinking about his next course of action. One of the current rules in this Domain dungeon had to involve the random teleportation of explorers, splitting up his party. An average adventurer would fear for their lives in this situation. He felt freedom instead.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Caesar asked.

“Why don’t you go find out?” The man drew his sword and pointed it at him. “And don’t try anything. You’ll regret it.”

Caesar drew a shaky breath and let fear creep up his eyes. The man’s confidence indicated a higher rank, prompting him to wait for an opportunity. Thus, he turned around, keeping him in the corner of his eyes, and walked into the forest painfully gripping his spear. The man followed behind with his sword sheathed and hands relaxed.

The bodyguard drove him forward with a pitiless, unrelenting pace. They walked for a long while before a growl rang out from the darkness. The man did not move. A zombie hound ran out and pounced, only to be met with a spear in its throat. Another dog came, and Caesar struggled a little to slice it a few times. More footsteps sounded out. A frantic look appeared on his face, and he glanced at the bodyguard, eyes pleading.

“Pathetic.” The man spat at the ground, unsheathing his sword. “Arnold must be desperate.” He rushed into battle against the pack of five snarling hounds, led by a rank one dog and a rank one zombie pack master. The pack moved in tandem with supernatural grace, circling the man as he attacked. His sword bit into one but missed another, and yet, still cut it in half as well.

Caesar hid behind a tree with his spear still visible. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

The Ever-Shifting Faces materialized behind the tree and flew up into the dark treetops, out of sight. He stepped out of the trees like a nervous child approaching a large insect. His spear stabbed into the flank of a hound that approached him. It went around and bit at his right wrist. He wrenched his spear out, using too much force and almost tripping, and plunged it into its ribs, repeatedly. A clumsy kill.

The bodyguard shot a beam of sword energy toward the zombie pack master, cutting deep into its neck. He dueled the zombie hound with ease, not letting its purplish jaws touch him. A few more slashes brought it down, and the fight ended. He stared back at Caesar, who stood there panting, eyes wide.

“Your parents were dirt, correct?”

”…What?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I meant rank zero.”

Caesar was unsure. They had never mentioned their rank to him, but he assumed it was at least rank three. “Yes. What of it?”

”Nothing. Keep moving.”

He acknowledged the glare and hurried forward, blood still dripping from his weapon. Another pack master lay further in the darkness. He repeated his pathetic act and only managed to kill a single wolf before the man had enough. The bodyguard breezed through multiple zombie hounds with ease, including three with dripping venom fangs. Although imbued with extraordinary strength, the zombies could not touch him.

”Hey! Perhaps, Arnold pities you.”

Caesar ignored him and began to make guesses about his enemy’s facet. The invisible energy that hung on his sword could be the result of an artifact, but the sword beam seemed more like a sublimation of an ability. Thus, a speed-type facet made sense. He needed him distracted.

Caesar looked up at the treetops and signaled to the Ever-Shifting Faces within. It hovered close to him, and he commanded it to begin creating hallucinations whenever he nodded at the air. But if he nodded thrice at an enemy instead, the faces should attack with a Mind Spike. Shaking his head thrice should result in a Mind Scream. His summon made an understanding expression and flew back up to hide.

He watched the battle from afar, staying well away from the battle. Soon enough, the man finished off the seven zombies and pressed him onward. A little while in, the bodyguard frowned. He seemed to sense something amiss, yet they continued.

Their next encounter involved a team of four skeleton soldiers, who specialized in sword mastery and shield mastery. A rank two Uncommon soldier captain led the group’s vanguard as they moved toward Caesar. Three spectral shields flew toward him. His attempt to dodge failed. Although weaker than the boss of Undead Swamp, the shields still crushed his ribs and sent him flying into the air, breaking his left arm as he attempted to land. He exaggeratedly screamed in pain.

The man shook his head in disappointment and stalked toward the group. He sliced toward a skeleton’s feet with his sword beam, cutting off its legs. Arrogant beyond belief, the man dashed in between the skeletons and slashed at their sides. Nothing could hit him. But the skeleton soldier captain proved to be a tougher fight when his sword bounced off a gray barrier.

Bones cracked and crunched on the ground. They flew into the space around the soldier captain and melded into armor. Its speed improved, and its swings became mightier. The bodyguard still looked confident though, even as he engaged it in a stalemate. Caesar nodded at him three times. He then summoned his hippo behind him and played dead.

The behemoth charged. The bodyguard, pinned between the skeleton soldier captain and its barrier, began to show fear and tried to retreat. Too late. A Mind Spike made him kneel. Two barriers shattered in tandem as the hippo burst through and tore the man in half.

[Notice]: Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 17! +2 Free Stat Points

The skeleton captain crumpled, outmatched by his beast’s bulk. Neither undead nor human remained once Caesar unsummoned it.

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Tomb Hippopotamus has leveled up to Level 18! +2 Free Stat Points

Black energy rushed to heal his wounds. The Ever-Shifting Faces spun in circles around him, making expressions of curiosity and alarm. He gave it a thumbs up and sent it to scout the area along with Max. But the wolf whimpered – the smell of death clogged its senses. He unsummoned it.

Caesar picked up the sword laying on the ground and slashed at a tree. It bounced off. Identifying it in his hands revealed it as a normal weapon, simply better made like his spear. He shook his head and combed through the pieces of flesh but found nothing of value.

A little testing on the glowing mushrooms revealed their flammable properties. Thus, he set a campfire and rested. Field dungeons could be cleared within a day, at minimum. But Domain dungeons took an entire week or more on foot. He planned out his next action.

His summon returned. Caesar took out the purple grape from his skeleton mage and offered its juices to his Ever-Shifting Faces. After a few sips, white chains visibly crept up its head. They weren’t as bright as before, but the sight still shocked him. Fortunately, lingering black energy disintegrated the chains. It flew around in excitement afterwards. That gave him more comfort in using it to advance his tomb hippo.

He summoned his skeleton and gazed at it in sorrow. It looked back at him and knelt like it knew what would come. But he didn’t like personally executing his companions. Dismissing the core in his mind was one thing; bludgeoning it was another. An alternative popped up in his mind. He switched the bedding and clothes to his skeleton mage instead.

After his meal, Caesar continued onward but changed direction. He did not feel ready to take on a Domain boss. Thus, he wanted to find something resembling a road first. This would likely lead to both an exit and more enemies – enough to rank up, hopefully.

Along the way, he met two more zombie pack masters and finished them with ease. He tested the effects of the purple grape on himself and discovered it took longer for the chains to affect him.

Caesar traveled for what seemed like days. Pangs of hunger struck five times, and fatigue twice. He grew more and more accustomed to the repetitive gloom of these dungeons. He persevered. Satisfaction rose within him as he came across vast stretches of muted dirt and sunlight. While brighter than before, the fog still blocked vision. He sent his skeleton forward to scout while he walked behind his hippo.

A long while passed before he heard wheels creak in the fog ahead. A carriage? He commanded his hippo to stop. The wheels whined and quickened. Two large skeleton horses pulling a bone chariot burst through the fog and smashed his skeleton scout into pieces.

[Notice]: Your Skeleton has died.

The essence core disappeared, lost forever. But it had done its job. The skeleton chariot, along with its two riders, found itself in a dire spot after hitting the hippo’s barrier and losing their momentum.

Caesar marked a bone horse with his ability and watched his hippo crunch through the vehicle. A deluge of black sludge poured forth and corroded the bones of the four rank one enemies. He noted this and confirmed a domain property of this dungeon: a boost in necromancy. They continued onward.

Skeleton Warhorse: Common

Level 12: 12 Free Stat Points -> 0 Free Stat Points

Ability: Muffle (F) – Rank 1

Strength: 8 -> 12

Agility: 7 -> 11

Endurance: 7 -> 11

Magic: 2

Willpower: 3

Spirit: 4

[Muffle]: An ability that passively reduces noise made. The effect increases with Spirit.

Caesar picked up the pace and summoned the horse to ride forward. The road narrowed and became hilly. While he was getting used to being on horseback, an arrow slammed into the tree next to him, causing him to fall off. The fall had injured him somewhat, forcing him to hide behind a tree and summon the hippo to defend himself. He eyed the other side of the road while his horse continued to run deeper to distract other enemies.

Four figures made their way across. The Ever-Shifting Faces initiated the battle with a Mind Scream, revealing four stumbling skeletons. Three of them collapsed under the onslaught, but one lived for slightly longer before it fell too. Two rank one Rares were more than enough to brutalize a rank two Uncommon.

He needed rest. Too exhausted to continue, he hid deep in the woods and slept. Bedtime was quiet. He drifted off soundly and hoped for a more productive day.

Caesar awoke to the same soundless darkness before he went to sleep and pressed onward. Not too long afterwards, he encountered a few lone skeleton scouts with lighter physiques. They patrolled around the roads, aimlessly walking around and staring into the trees. He swung at one but fumbled and almost fell off his horse again, cursing as he retreated. After running away, he came back once again and missed the attack completely. He needed practice.

With a little more practice, horse riding felt less painful to him. His aches and sores began to decrease. Instead of missing stabs and jabs, he began to graze the skeleton scouts. When hunger began to overwhelm him, he rested and ate before continuing to practice. The process was repeated thrice until he could deftly perform combat on his horse.

He nodded in satisfaction. Now, Caesar could ride the skeleton horse without losing his balance whenever he attacked. His muscle pains reduced as his posture improved. After finishing off the skeleton scouts he could see in the road ahead, he then rested and continued.

More groups of skeleton soldiers appeared, with varying abilities. Weaker captains led teams with passive abilities, while higher-leveled captains guided soldiers with more active abilities. Caesar’s hippo and face monster destroyed them all the same. Half a dozen squads of skeleton soldiers and auxiliary scouts fell to their assault.

[Notice]: Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 18! +2 Free Stat Points

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Ever-Shifting Faces has leveled up to Level 17! +2 Free Stat Points

Caesar pressed onward with unrelenting zeal, rejuvenated by the thought of reaching rank two. The road grew steeper. He sent his Ever-Shifting Faces forward to scout, commanding it to use Hallucination to display any attacks it detected. This allowed him to see those attacks coming before they actually came.

It saved his life. As he rode forward, he glimpsed a black lance flash and rolled off the horse. It doused his enthusiasm and obliterated his steed.

[Notice]: Your Skeleton Warhorse has died.

He scrambled behind a tree and summoned his tomb hippo, both behind cover. The fog covered what lay ahead, but he could see a vague building-sized silhouette overlooking the area. This likely miniboss location would require a tough climb, with magic snipers. And probably, more skeleton soldiers. Caesar narrowed his eyes. Would it be worth it?